Spencer repeating rifle

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The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever-action, repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges. It was adopted by the Union Army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War, but did not replace the standard issue muzzle-loading rifled muskets in use at the time. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version.

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Overview

The design was completed by Christopher Spencer in 1860, and was for a magazine-fed, lever-operated rifle chambered for the .56-56 rimfire cartridge. Unlike later cartridge designations, the first number referred to the diameter of the case at the head, while the second number referred to the diameter at the mouth; the actual bullet diameter was .52 inches. Cartridges were loaded with 45 grains of black powder.

To use the Spencer, a lever had to be worked to extract the used shell and feed a new cartridge from the tube. Like the Dreyse breech-loader, the hammer then had to be manually cocked in a separate action. The weapon used rimfire cartridges stored in a seven-round tube magazine, enabling the rounds to be fired one after another. When empty, the tube could be rapidly loaded either by dropping in fresh cartridges or from a device called the Blakeslee Cartridge Box, which contained up to ten tubes with seven cartridges each, which could be emptied in the magazine tube in the buttstock.

There were also .56-52, .56-50, and even a few .56-46 versions of the cartridge created, which were necked down versions of the original .56-56. Cartridge length was limited by the action size to about 1.75 inches in length, and the later calibers used a smaller diameter, lighter bullet and larger powder charge to increase the power and range over the original .56-56 cartridge, which, while about as powerful as the .58 caliber rifled musket of the time, was underpowered by the standards of other early cartridges such as the .50-70 and .45-70.

[edit] History

The Spencer repeating rifle was adopted by the United States Army and used during the American Civil War. The South occasionally captured some of these weapons and ammunition, but, as they were unable to manufacture the cartridges because of shortages of copper, their ability to take advantage of the weapons was limited. Notable early instances of use included the Battle of Hoover's Gap (where Col. John T. Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" effectively demonstrated the firepower of repeaters), and the Gettysburg Campaign, where two regiments of the Michigan Brigade (under Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer) carried them at the Battle of Hanover and at East Cavalry Field.^[1] As the war progressed, Spencers were carried by a number of cavalry and mounted infantry regiments and provided the Union army with additional firepower versus their Confederate counterparts.

In the late 1860s, the Spencer company was sold to the Fogerty Rifle Company and ultimately to Winchester. With almost 200,000 rifles and carbines made, it marked the first adoption of a removable magazine-fed infantry rifle by any country. Many Spencer rifles and carbines were later sold as surplus to France where they were used in the war against Germany in 1870.

Despite the fact that the Spencer company went out of business in 1869, ammunition was sold in the United States up to about the 1920s, and many rifles were converted to centerfire, which could fire cartridges made from the centerfire .50-70 brass. While production ammunition is no longer generally available, it can still be obtained on the specialty market. Old Western Scrounger, a retailer specializing in obsolete cartridges, does list ammunition in .56-50 Spencer, made by Ten-X Ammo, though it is a special order item and prices run over US$5 per round[1].

[edit] See also

• M1819 Hall rifle
• Henry rifle
• Volcanic rifle
• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Earl J. Coates and Dean S. Thomas, An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms
• Ian V. Hogg, Weapons of the Civil War
• Barnes, Cartridges of the World
• Marcot, Roy A. "Spencer Repeating Firearms" 1995

[edit] External links

• The patent drawing for the Spencer action
• Spencer's Repeaters: Some History and Shooting Tips, with information on Spencer's unique caliber designations, and how to reload for centerfire conversions
• Description and photos of Spencer rifle, serial number 3981
• Smithsonian Institute page on the Spencer rifle, mentioned the Blakeslee cartridge box
• Production information on the Spencer carbine
• www.ammo-one.com, dealer in rare ammunition, has pictures and information on Spencer cartridges .56-56, .56-52, .56-50, and .56-46